136 TAVETA AND MOUNTS KILIMANJARO AND MERIT 



meadow, undecided which way to turn. Everything was draped 

 in a deceptive grey mist, fine rain was falling, and we were 

 altogether very uncomfortable. We climbed up about 660 feet, 

 however, and at mid-day halted on the banks of a somewhat 

 rapid stream. It cleared in the afternoon, and we were able to 

 make out on the south the Sogonoy chain and many of the 

 heights behind it ; so I betook myself to a low hill hard by to 

 complete our map, while Count Teleki started, rifle on shoulder, 

 to try his luck at hunting ; but he soon came back, having nearly 

 shot one of our own oxen. I had scarcely got my instruments 

 into position and begun my work when I noticed a great herd 

 of buffaloes coining out of a neighbouring thicket, and for a 

 moment I could see a long string of brown backs swaying to and 

 fro. This made me careful, and I examined my surroundings 

 more closely, becoming aware of three other buffaloes quietly 

 grazing, but gradually coming nearer. At the foot of my hill 

 they paused and sniffed the air, then, apparently reassured, 

 they lay down, one or another getting up every now and then 

 to toss his head and sniff again. They evidently could not 

 make things out, and the wind not blowing from our camp, I 

 was puzzled by their proceedings till Count Teleki suddenly 

 appeared, approaching them without any suspicion of their 

 presence. I made a sign to him, and he at once carefully 

 stalked the animals from another direction. We watched them 

 for a few minutes longer, and then the Count broke the spell, 

 and I had the excitement of seeing a regular buffalo hunt, 

 whilst quite out of danger myself. We had heard wonderful 

 stories of these animals' tenacity of life, so Count Teleki got 

 quite close to them before he fired. One of them fell badly 

 wounded, and the others dashed wildly away. We rushed 

 towards our victim, but before we reached it we heard a sound 

 like that made by a storm-wind, and as we gazed about us in 

 bewilderment a herd of some hundred buffaloes, jostling each 



